Photos: Hanna Lohmeyer 2010There are several seasonal changes occurring in and around my nature site. The first is that there are many birds. While I spent almost 15 minutes in my nature site, I heard dozens of birds calling out to one another. However, it was hard to catch sight of any of them because they were not so much perched in the trees like they tend to be in the winter (scanning the ground for food) but they were flying around after one another or were on the ground. The birds are no longer in their mode of hibernation or survival so they are less focused on searching for food and more focused on the social aspect of spring and the mating season. I also saw the typical squirrels scampering around, and while I saw none today, I often see several bunnies in and around my nature site at dusk when walking to or from dinner now that the weather is warmer.
The plant life is also changing in my nature area. The trees are budding, as shown by the pictures above. The trees I photographed have tiny red buds at the end of every branch ready to bloom. Also pictured are the flowers, possibly Daylilies or Tulips, that are just starting to come up out the ground. Their green stems are growing from where they are planted around the concrete sitting area in my nature site. Another form of plant life I observed was some type of mushroom or fungi growing on one of the trees, also pictured above. In general, the grass was greener and there was moss on the ground and on the trees as a result of the rain and warmer temperatures we have been experiencing.
I did not notice any signs of human life in and around my nature site today. This is largely in part to the fact that the site is down a hill off of the sidewalks that take students in between Read, Forest, and the School of Education. Most people avoid walking through the site because of its taller grasses and its damp and muddy nature. Students tend to sit on higher, dryer ground. I have never seen anyone else in my nature site while I have been there, nor when I have walked by, despite the nice stone sitting area that is clearly intended for human use.
When the weather was colder, there were no buds on the trees, there was no moss on the ground or the trees, the grass was more brown than green, and there were fewer animals because they were either hibernating or had migrated for the season. Now that it has warmed up, plants and trees are blooming, more green is growing, and more animals are both visible and vocal in and around the area. Throughout all of campus these seasonal changes are occurring, and it is a refreshing change from the dearth of life and bare trees that have surrounded us for the past several months.
I disagree with Mary Austin because plant and animal life is more vibrant and visible in the warmer weather of Spring and Summer. I do think that there is more life in winter than people like to think--they do not go outside and explore because it is too cold and so they do miss out on the plants and animals that they can still experience. But all in all, in Indiana, the winter does not bring out majestic bears or wolves or snow bunnies--it does not bring winter plants that survive or even thrive in colder weather. Central Indiana has plants that bloom in the Spring, trees that bud in the warm sun, and animals that only return with the change in the season. It rains more than anything in the Spring, and this is source of the life that comes back into our lives each Spring. I disagree that, at least in this area, winter has "more evidence of life" than in the summer as Austin argues. I rely on what I can see easily, and while that may mean I miss out on some of the life that thrives in the winter months, the majority of Indiana's wildlife have adapted to be out and living in the warmth, the sun, and the rain that Spring and Summer bring about year after year.
